Friday, June 11, 2010

...Gallagher gives the book’s characters—there is a Smitty, a Bulldog, and a Doc (but no Tex) much more than the name-rank-hometown exposition that too often flattens soldiers in print.

...appreciate his evocative prose, convincing dialogue, and, especially, telling vignettes of life as an American soldier in Iraq—“the suck,” as he calls the experience.

...If the surge’s creed was counterinsurgency, the army field manual was scripture and Petraeus, its lead author, was the apostle. Gallagher, then, was something of a young disciple. He has trained under a pupil of Petraeus, he carries T. E. Lawrence, he teaches Iraqi history to his platoon, and he quotes the counterinsurgency manual in the field.

...Kaboom suggests that if the American military is to keep soldiers such as Gallagher in the ranks, it will have to learn, as he did, to embrace the suck of counterinsurgency.

The author of the forthcoming REBEL BUDDHA: On the Road to Freedom (Shambhala, November 2010) offers a preview of things to come in this insightful piece about our "emotional signature." Here's an excerpt:

Why don't we pay more attention to understanding our own patterns? We may have a solid financial plan worked out that will buy us a house and pay for our kids' college and our retirement, but we don't give much thought to getting the most benefit out of one of the most precious resources for happiness -- our emotions. Often, we just leave it to chance.